What Happens After We Die?

So there is a reveting and a relevant discussion between Yudhishthira and Sri Krishna in Mahabharatam.

Relevant, I say is because death is a common factor and probably the only fact that we all agree upon, without an argument.

This is the only sure thing in life after birth, isn’t it?

Besides, there are multiple discussion in Mahabharatam, all in a dialogue form. All of them are very engrossing and literally unputdownable! Please read when you get time. I promise that you wouldn’t regret spending the time on that book.

Okay, coming back to the question in discussion about what happens after we die?

Yudhishthira asks Krishna: How can we possibly suffer or enjoy anything after we die? We leave our body here, so how do we suffer our doings?

Who suffers after we die?

A fitting question, isn’t it? The one we all might have thought about, one time or the other.

This question brings relevance to the death rituals. The charity that follows after the cremation, is all explained in their discussion.

Not going into it, but the very question of who suffers and how can we suffer after we lose our body is something that caught my interest.

So Krishna says to Yudishtra: sure, you do leave your body here. But after death, you take another one. And that will look exactly the same as one that you had when you were alive.

It is Just like how you take a dream body and suffer or enjoy the dream. However the dream body may appear different or same as the one that you already have. But the parallels are drawn to bring your attention to the fact that taking a body is possible after death.

And that body that we acquire after our death would be both invisible and invincible therefore none of our grieving family could see it. But we would see them grieving and we will also long to be with them. That yearning and the attachment wouldn’t disappear with the lifeless body lying on the floor.

After this, there is a long discussion about how Yama would choose to take us through the rest of the journey, all depending upon what we acquired during our lifetime (not wealth, you know that right?😜)

How he may appear before us( with folded hands or with a noose) is all on us(Krishna’s saying, not mine)

Logically, if we look into it, are we carrying our body along with us to the dream state? Of course not. Our body is lying more like a corpse in sleep when we dream. So we aren’t carrying it to our dream. Parallely, we also have a body there in the dream.

So with that, if we put two and two together, it makes sense. Think on it. Food for thought, maybe 😉

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